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I ended up posting the question on LS1Tech and after having a long conversation with John at Scoggin Dickey, learned a few things about valve spring manufactures and their products. And my engine guy confirmed this after I spoke with him as well.
First, any of those springs would work for my application. Patriot offers the sweet price based on the volume of stuff they sell. Economies of scale in action.
Second there are only two companies that make their own springs in-house and therefore have complete control of the process. They are Manley and PAC. Everyone else is buying there stuff from somewhere else. They might be doing their own R & D, but they are outsourcing the process. If the budget was there both guys definitely leaned toward a PAC or Manley spring.
So that begged the question why don't you see Manley mentioned on the boards? (PAC you see quite a bit and they seem to be the upgrade from the Patriots if the $$$ is available.)
And the answer was that Manley doesn't cater directly to the public and don't offer their stuff on-line direct. They are old fashioned in their marketing and rely on their network of shops/builders etc. to push their product. Manley stuff tends to run slightly higher in price, but they control the entire process in-house in their Lakewood, NJ facility.
That's what I learned today and decided to go with Manley Nextek dual springs, Ti retainers, machined locks and new spring seats. 8 new intake valves (Race Series) were also ordered up so I should have the heads back this time next week ready to go.
Ya know what's really expensive? Hollow stem valves, WOW. The price jump for those babies was huge, too much for me and too little ROI.
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1999 Formula 6spd (The driver)
1997 2500 Ext. Cab Dodge 4x4 CTD 5spd (The Earth Mover)
1970 Nova 5spd (The toy)
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